Berkeley City College (BCC) marked the Mid-Autumn Festival this month with a sweet celebration: a pop-up booth offering mooncakes and cultural connections.
From Oct. 6 to 8, students with the Asian Pacific Islander Leadership Empowerment Adversity Diversity (API LEAD) program and the Society of Scholars handed out mooncakes in flavors like pandan, red bean, lotus seed, and pistachio while sharing the meaning behind one of Asia’s oldest harvest festivals.
API LEAD is a learning community at BCC that supports students through mentorship, counseling, and events celebrating cultures from Asia and the Pacific Islands The community is a cohort of the college’s Society of Scholars, alongside Umoja, IGNITE and Puente.
Traditionally associated with Chinese culture, mooncakes are a staple of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and are enjoyed in other East and Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Susan Cuong, API LEAD counselor and instructor for the Society of Scholars at BCC, said that the student clubs “wanted to expose students from all backgrounds to this celebration.”
“It’s a tradition many of our students celebrate at home, and we wanted to bring that to the campus community,” Cuong said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival, is celebrated across East and Southeast Asia as a time for family reunions and gratitude for the harvest.
Cuong, who identifies as Chinese American, said she usually celebrates quietly with family.
“Traditionally, it’s a family reunion under the full moon,” she said. “My mom used to cook a feast, but now we just go out to eat and enjoy being together.”
Kathy, who only identified herself by first name, helped to organize the event. She’s a biology major who will be graduating from BCC in 2026.
“Even though my family in Thailand didn’t celebrate the holiday as much, I still value its meaning. It’s about family coming together and admiring the full moon,” she said. “It reminds us to slow down and reconnect.”
Club members invited the students who stopped by the booth to read a few facts about the celebration and answer a few trivia questions before receiving their free mooncake.
“Many were surprised to learn the event wasn’t related to the Chinese New Year,” Kathy said.
“We wanted to educate people in a fun way,” she said. “A lot of students had never tried mooncakes before.”
For Cuong, food is more than a treat.
“Food is such a big part of Asian culture,” she said, “it’s a way to share joy and introduce people to something new.”
“There are so many different cultures within Asia,” Cuong said. “We try to highlight that diversity through small but meaningful celebrations like this.”
As students sampled mooncakes and learned about the full moon tradition, Cuong said the goal was simple: to help everyone feel included.
“It’s more than just handing out food,” she said. “It’s about creating spaces where people feel seen and connected.”
